Change in Direction

I am changing direction at this time in my blog from my home to your home, from the ease of full mobility which most of us enjoy, to the possible lack of mobility and future wheelchair/walker use or other health issues which can cause daily activities in your home to be challenging issues. Did you know that it costs an average of $79,000 per year for a private or semi-private room in a nursing home? At this point the cost is increasing approximately 3% per year. That means that, depending on your age, you will be facing a long retirement spending your life savings up in a short amount of time. My thinking is this: Unless you are severely disabled, wouldn't you want to remain in your home as long as possible? I live in a ranch home. You would think that any person who is up in age or facing possible health issues would look for a ranch home to ease their mobility. What I have found is that my ranch home is in no way accessible for anyone with a physical disability. A myriad of obstacles face the physically challenged. There is one step going into every entry doorway. My hallways are too narrow for wheelchair access. My bathrooms are cramped and circuitous. My laundry room is too narrow. My outlets are too low. My thresholds between floor changes are too high. My master bedroom is at the end of a narrow hallway and the master bath is in a small closet-sized room. The list goes on. My long-term goal in my home is to make it as handicap accessible as possible. I will be educating you in the process so you can do the same in your home. I will begin with my hall bathroom. The width of a wheelchair is 30". That means that a doorway must be a mininum of 32" for a user to be able to get their chair through. As you can see, my current doorway of 27" is too small for a wheelchair to enter. In order to enter the bathroom, one would have to turn a corner into the hallway which is only 38" wide. My plan is to change the doorway from the hall side to the lower side (in the picture). Since my bathroom is only 70" wide, wheelchair use is not going to be totally possible, as a 60" radius is needed for wheelchair turnaround. But I will get as close as possible. First things first, I must contact the necessary specialists to advise me if it is possible to change the doorway and all the plumbing I want to change around to have a less circuitous path in this bathroom. Stay tuned...